ought not to abandon its authority (and in such a case to hesitate is to give way)—once admit that some coercive measure is. required, and the objections to the measure proposed-such as the danger of enforcing it, which is nothing; the fear that it may be permanently enforced, which could only be effected by a fresh Act of Parliament; the difficulty of determining whether to cali it a penal measure, or a measure of general policy (seeing that. it is in fact a measure of general policy, brought on by the misconduct of the parties whose privileges it happens to interfere. with)—these and the like objections may be safely left to themselves. The advantages, direct and collateral, which would have flowed from such a measure to Jamaica first, and through her to all our West Indian possessions, would be a more fruitful topic. But it is idle to dwell upon them now, since the occasion for securing them has been so miserably thrown away. The mischief is already done, and will hardly be retrieved. The Bill now. before Parliament, if it be allowed to pass, will save something from the wreck. Three important measures will be gained; but the rest is to be left to chance. The management of this most critical time, in which five-sixths of the people of Jamaica are passing from slaves into citizens-in which 'the full light of liberty is suddenly let in upon the scarcely unsealed eyes;' *—this most, difficult and delicate task of securing to the negroes the enjoyment of real freedom, and at the same time making it their real interest, and making them feel and understand that it is their real interest, to remain in the condition of a labouring peasantry in the service of their former masters- -a task requiring, if ever any did, both strength, and skill, and zeal-is to be trusted to the present House of Assembly;-a body how qualified at any time for such a task we know too well, and now worse disposed than ever ;-irritated by opposition, insolent from a victory over the Government, and emboldened by a belief that Parliament no longer cares, or no longer dares, to interfere. Meantime, this very body is standing on the brink of a vast, a sudden, and (cheerfully as our Conservatives regard it), we must add, a very perilous change. For one or two years more, it will continue to represent the existing constituency of 2000 whites, who were slave-drivers a few months ago; the year after, that constituency may be augmented by an overwhelming and rapidly increasing majority of blacks, who a few months ago were slaves. Who can tell how such a change such a Government no white man could have remained in Jamaica! The Duke's authority is fairly against us, we admit. But no authority can give weight to such an opinion. * Canning in 1823. will work hereafter, or how the temper of the Assembly may be affected by such a prospect now? Thanks to the Conservative party, we have lost the means of watching and guiding the present, and of preparing to meet the future. A competent Legislature on the spot, desiring the real welfare of the whole community, and able not only to make laws but to superintend their operation, and remodify them as occasion may suggestable to feel their way as they proceed-they will not let us have. For what to them is the good of a distant colony, though linked with the prosperity of a mighty cause, when weighed against the inconvenience of a majority for Ministers! This is our loss. Something, however, we have gained, which may turn to advantage hereafter;-a distinction between the characters of the two political parties which divide the nation, more deep and vital than any which their recent disputes have turned upon. Much as the present Ministry have been taunted with tenacity of office, with over-readiness to sacrifice party measures rather than fall in defending them, and with the slenderness of the differences which separate them from their rivals-we now know that there is at least this difference between the parties-that when the interests of a great colony are at stake, the sacrifice of which will involve no general unpopularity, no loss of party favour, nothing more and nothing less than the abandonment of a great public duty, the Whigs will not sacrifice them for the sake of office, and the Tories will. No. CXLI. will be published in October, INDEX. ABBOT, Mr, see Lord Tenterden. A. Adventure, H. M. S., voyage of. See America, South. America, South-Narrative of the Voyages of H. M. S. Adventure and Ancient Scottish Melodies, with Introduction, etc., by William Dauney, 192. Angeville, (Comte A. d') Essai sur la Statistique de la France, etc. 49-74. See France. Anson, George Lord, Life of, by Sir John Barrow, 126. See Barrow. Arrowsmith's, J., map of South America, deserves the highest commen Araucanians, character and appearance of, 488-490. B. Barrow's, Sir John, Life of Lord Anson, 126-peculiar privileges he pos- Beaumont, M. De, hypothesis as to the ages of the Plutonic rocks, 437, 438. Belgium, railways in, compared with those of England, 179-184. Blair, Lord President, sketch of, 31, 32-Professor Playfair's brief cha- Boué, M., on the Geology of Scotland and Germany, 460-464. Brogniart, M., on the Plutonic Theory, 459. Byng, Admiral, questions connected with the fate of, 151–153. C. Canada, opinion expressed by Earl St. Vincent regarding, 41. Challenger, British frigate, wrecked on the Araucanian coast, 488-gene- Charles I. and the Scottish Commissioners, 106-correspondence with Channing, Dr, false taste of his compositions, 214-224-his critique on the Chiloe-inhabitants a mixed progeny of Spanish and Indian blood-all Chronometrical Observations-value and importance of-and general accu- Church Missionary Society, send a missionary to Tierra del Fuego, 477— -unity of action in large bodies without unity of religious views, 242- Composition-critique on the false taste displayed in the writings of Chan- Corsica, character of its people, 73. Cuvier's Eloges of De Saussure, Werner, and Desmarest, &c., 457, 458. D. Darwin, Charles, naturalist of the Beagle-see America, South-account See Scotish Melodies. Dauney's, William, Ancient Scotish Melodies, 192. E. Education necessary for a Naval Officer, 143-145. Elizabeth, Queen of England, conduct and character of, 373-treatment of 379. Ellenborough, Lord, sketch of, 23-28. F. Fénelon, de la Mothe, diplomatic correspondence-commencement of a orted conversation between Norfolk and Leicester as to the latter's |